NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The University of Notre Dame men's and women's track and field teams kicked off the 2012-13 indoor season in grand fashion Friday night at the Loftus Sports Center during the season-opening Blue & Gold Invitational as the Irish won 26 of a possible 33 events while 44 student-athletes qualified for February's BIG EAST Indoor Championships.

Both Irish teams picked up 13 wins, while 25 women and 19 men qualified for BIG EAST in their respective events.

"I was very proud of the individuals that won events and qualified for BIG EAST at the first meet of the season," said head coach Joe Piane. "We had some splendid performances that really give us something to build on as we head into break. BIG EAST is still two months away, but we will have to keep working hard because we know the meet will come up quickly."

The Irish take a break from meets with the holiday season right around the corner, but return to action in January with the Grand Valley Invitational from Jan. 11-12.

WOMEN’S EVENTS

60m Hurdles: Irish runners took positions 1-5 in the 60m hurdles. Kaila Barber finished first with a time of 8.32. Her sister Jade was a close second with a time of 8:40. Both qualified for the Big East Championship meet along with Meghan Moore (8.80) and Carly Loeffel (8.97). Margaret Bamgbose was not far behind in 9.23.

1,000m: Notre Dame swept the top three places in this in this event. Danielle Aragon led the Irish pack in 2:52.24 followed by Sydni Meunier (2:54.13) and Emily Frydrych (2:57.02). All three qualified for the Big East Championship meet.

60m: Notre Dame’s own Jade Barber ran 7.74 in this event to take first place overall. In doing so, she also qualified for the Big East Championship meet.

400m: Notre Dame swept the top three places in the 400-meter dash. Michelle Brown took first in 54.79. Margaret Bamgbose was next in 55.82, then Jaclyn Winkel in 57.26. All three earned a trip to the Big East Championship meet.

Mile: The Fighting Irish went first through third in this event. McKinzie Schulz punched her ticket to the Big East Championship meet with a winning time of 4:59.05. Coming in a close second was Angela Ryck in 5:05.25. Ryan Russ was third in 5:20.68.

500m: Notre Dame went one-two in this event with two Big East qualifiers. Megan Yanik took first in 1:13.60 followed by Amber Lalla in 1:16.23.

800m: Fighting Irish runner Kaileen Healy took first place in the 800m in a Big East qualifying time of 2:14.96

200m: Notre Dame’s own Jade Barber finished first in the women’s 200-meter run in a Big East qualifying time of 24.75.

3,000m: The Irish took the top two spots in this event. Alexa Aragon finished first and qualified for the Big East Championship meet in a time of 9:40.02. Katherine Stultz finished second in 10:27.57.

High Jump: Marquette’s Sarah MacCourtney took first with a leap of 1.69m, before a trio of Irish jumpers took second through fourth. Kendra Jennings led the way with a jump of 1.68 and was followed by Carly Loeffel (1.68m) and Fiona Paladino (1.63m).

Pole Vault: Marquette’s Lauren Darnall won the pole vault in 3.70m. Ann Polcari (3.70m) and Chrissy Finkel (3.55m) took second and third, respectively, and qualified for BIG EAST.

Long Jump: Two Notre Dame jumpers qualified for the Big East Championship meet in this event. Kaila Barber came in first with a 5.77m jump. In third place was Jessie Christian, who jumped 5.58m.

Triple Jump:Mary Esther Gourdin took first in the triple jump with a BIG EAST qualifying leap of 11.63m. Teammate Jessie Christian will join her there after her third-place leap of 11.33m.

Shot Put:Emily Morris won the shot put with a BIG EAST qualifying toss of 14.17m, while teammate Emily Kujawski also qualified for BIG EAST with a hurl of 12.78m.

MEN’S EVENTS

60m Hurdles: Jarrod Buchanon won this event in a Big East qualifying time of 8.20. In fourth, Bryce Wood also qualified with a time of 8.57. Close behind was Ted Glasnow in 8.72.

1,000m: The men’s kilometer was competitive throughout with four runners finishing within a third of a second of each other. Notre Dame’s Jack Favorite won the event in 2:31.22.

60m:Logan Renwick took second in a time of 7.18. In third was Nick Dunn, who covered the 60 meters very close behind in 7.20.

400m:Patrick Feeney took first place in this event in 47.24. He was immediately followed by teammate Chris Giesting, who covered the distance in 47.64. Both times fell within the Big East qualifying standard.

Mile: Notre Dame’s only runner in the mile, Thomas Pesch, won the event with a kick past DePaul’s Chris Miedema. Pesch covered the five laps in 4:18.06.

500m:Brendan Dougherty took first in this event with 1:03.64. He is the only Notre Dame runner to qualify for the Big East Championship meet from this event.

5,000m: Notre Dame took the top two spots in the night’s longest running event. Freshman Michael Clevenger took first in a time of 14:33.07. Martin Grady, after setting the pace early on, finished second in 14:35.66. Both qualified for the Big East Championship meet along with Jake Kildoo (14:36.80, 4th) and Walter Schafer (14:37.74, 5th).

800m: The top three spots in the 800-meter run went to Notre Dame runners. Steve Blazer took command in the last 200 meters to finish first in a time of 1:53.88. The time was good enough to qualify for the Big East Championship meet along with second place Spencer Rheinhardt in 1:54.95. Eric Gebeke took third in 1:57.07.

200m:Nick Dunn finished third out of the second heat in this event with a time of 22.78. Close behind was Jarrod Buchanon in 23.02.

Pole Vault:David Schipper opened up his sophomore year in style with a vault of 4.65m to qualify for the BIG EAST Championship and win his first meet of his career.

Long Jump: The men’s long jump saw three Fighting Irish athletes qualify for the Big East Championship meet. Keith Mesidor took first with a jump of 7.11m. Logan Renwick came in third with 6.87m, and Ted Glasnow took fourth with 6.76m.

Triple Jump: Reigning BIG EAST Outdoor Champion Logan Renwick won the triple jump with a leap of 14.64m to automatically qualify for the BIG EAST meet.

Weight Throw:Anthony Thomas and Jordan Stumph easily topped the weight throw field as both qualified for the IBG EAST. Thomas threw 17.77m, while Stumph wasn’t far behind with a toss of 17.42m. Dominick Padovano also qualified with a hurl of 14.99m.

Shot Put:Andrew Brock easily won the shot put with a toss of 15.93m to automatically qualify for the BIG EAST meet.